Scientists Went Looking for Shackleton’s Endurance. They found a Hidden Fish City in Perfect Formation Instead

While tracing the footsteps of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his ill-fated Endurance ship, researchers discovered hundreds of fish nests arranged in particular patterns.

A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) investigating the seafloor in Antarctica’s Western Weddell Sea found over 1,000 circular nests making up a large geometric neighborhood. The discovery sheds light onto the unique ecosystems thriving in Earth’s most extreme environments and carries significant implications for conservation efforts.

A dynamic fish community

The nests (the divots in the sand pictured in the image below) belong to a species of rockcod known as the yellowfin notie and were located in an area previously covered by a 656-foot-thick (200-meter) ice shelf. Some were arranged individually, while othe